Susan May Warren hits it out of the park again with “The Wonder of You,” another installment in the Christiansen Family series. Picking up immediately after the prior book, “Wonder” mainly tells the story of prodigal daughter Amelia, back home from Europe. It also focuses on daughter Grace and her fiancé, Max.
Back home in Deep Haven, Minnesota, Amelia must decide between her high school sweetheart, Seth, who is confident he can sweep Amelia back off her feet, and the dashing European, Roark, who desperately wants to win her back — but first must tell her the truth of his past. Amelia must also decide which path she wants to take — the safety and comfort of home and the familiar, or the stirring of a new and adventurous life away from home.
Grace and Max’s story finds them facing how Max’s future battle with Huntington’s will affect their impending marriage and family life. It just might take a sweet Ukrainian orphan, Yulia, to show them the right journey.
“The Wonder of You” is a great story of love and mercy and trust and honesty and secrets and forgiveness (“There’s nothing that God won’t forgive”), and seeking out — and accepting — God’s plan for one’s life. Warren shows us how God intervenes in our lives with forgiveness and grace — no matter what we’ve done, and awakens the person we are meant to be. As Ingrid tells Roark: “(God) loves us simply because He finds joy in loving us. And no amount of our running, our disobedience, our mistakes will keep that love from us. God requires nothing from us but to turn and embrace Him.”
Filled with moments of joy, silliness, tenderness, sadness and triumph, “The Wonder of You” should have the theme verse of Jeremiah 29:11. It also happens to repeatedly feature my favorite hymn, “Be Thou My Vision,” which again reiterates the theme of allowing God to create His path for you.
Susan May Warren is a great writer who always manages to pull the reader into her story, making them feel like they are right there in Deep Haven. And she always pulls in characters from her older books, which is a nice treat! The only negative? The next book is the final book in the series!
Five stars out of five.
“The Wonder of You” (a Christiansen Family novel) by Susan May Warren